Claude, leave them there.
I'll come back for them later.
You sure you don't want
to stay for a drink?
Some other time, Fi...
Gotta brush up my local charm.
Tourist season,
you know.
Do you mind taking
this mail to the blue house?
Watch out
for ghosts, kiddo!
Claire!
Uncle Peat!
Here she comes,
there's my girl.
Huh...
This must be Claire.
20 years in Europe...
- Long time away, Fiona.
I know.
I thought it was time she saw
where her family comes from.
Though Mom's probably rolling
in her grave with laughter.
There you go.
Oh! Leaving me
this place out of spite.
Franny did have
a cruel streak.
A bit of elbow grease
and it'll be as good as new.
That's rustic chic!
It's great.
What do you think,
Claire?
What do you think
about the old rock?
My opinion matters?
Claire!
- It takes...
some time
getting used to it.
Another 50 years,
you'll be fitting in just fine.
Hey!
I thought
you should practice.
I know what it gets like
when you leave it.
I told you
I was finished.
I told you!
It was just
an idea.
Claire!
She won't even cry.
L... you did the right
thing bringing her here.
You did
the right thing.
Go on...
Go on, imbecile.
Come on.
Hello?
Hello?
Eeny, meeny, miney, mo...
Who
in the Christ are you?
Make a habit in breaking
into strangers' homes.
Young mute girl took
a wrong turn at the mall?
I was asked to give
this to you... That's all.
God damned sissy Clyde!
His family was always
afraid its own shadows.
What did you do,
try to drown that?
PH...
Why they don't burn
all the books in the world?
No one's reading them,
'cause no one's publishing them.
Que sera sera.
Kiss my ass!
No one cares about
fairy tales anymore.
Goddamn publishers.
Bit'em in the ass!
They want rejection letters,
I'll show them
rejection letters...
I reject all these black
wearing know-it-alls.
Thinking, thinking... so busy
thinking they forget their hearts.
I reject these bloody
rusting clothes-pegs.
Never read
the end of a story first.
Ever!
A good story has
the power to heal the soul.
Typical.
You don't know me.
You don't know
anything about me.
Don't I know?
So I thought tomorrow...
we could pack a lunch
and go look around.
The lighthouse, maybe.
Or go hike to the point?
Claire?
Are you sleeping?
...private sector bids
to purchase local ocean frontage,
land considered traditional
fishing grounds,
deemed to be of no commercial
use to the communities,
after the mysterious disappearance
of fish stocks in recent years.
Sale of the land would bring
revenue to this part of the country.
Though scientists hold little hope
for the return of the stocks,
out of work fishermen
hold out for a miracle.
This is Andrew Young,
and that's the news for this hour.
It's 10:15 and time for
a little mid-morning Bach.
I need a boat.
There's only
one boat on this island,
Peat's got it up on land.
Clyde won't be back
'til next week.
No way off
this time of the year.
That is unless
you've got fins.
Stupid deserted rock!
Fish's gone.
Kids grow up,
get jobs in the city.
What's your excuse?
It's quiet here.
Usually.
Well, I've got 20,000 breaths
in a day, kid...
I just wasted
about 18 on you.
I've got work to do!
You've got something
to say, say it fast.
Your story...
What's it about?
Stupid deserted rock!
Your basic love story.
By the sea.
Riveting.
You gotta hear the whole
thing to understand.
If you're not up to it...
Then I'll start
at the beginning,
as all stories must.
In kinder times,
there was an island
whose heart and
blood was fish,
more fish than
any place in the sea.
Oh, thank God.
- Rose?!
Hurry!
Come on, come on!
Up on the table!
It's okay, it's okay now.
On the table.
Yeah.
Just like I told you.
Breathe!
That's right.
Okay.. -
Now push!
That's right,
now push... Yeah!
Aahhh!
Yeah!
- Here she comes!
- Aaaahh!
Yeah!
Here she is!
Isn't she beautiful?
That's some pretty.
The first
child of the fishing season.
It was a birth
of great significance.
Perhaps this child
was the one...
Amen.
Amen!
You two,
stay away from her.
Stay away.
I've got a feeling
about it, Stone.
I know it's her.
If she is,
a sign will come.
She'll get
a sign soon enough.
...that offers
bounty and mercy,
Who will grant to this child that,
which by nature she cannot have,
she will be
baptized by water.
Man".
Ha, ha, ha, ha...
Yeah!
One day,
Porter decided it was time.
Though her mother
was from the mainland,
Silly was an islander
through and through.
She'll live by the sea,
she must learn to swim in it.
it was the sign
that Stone had spoken of.
Indeed,
Silly was the one.
They were brown, Doctor.
Her eyes were brown.
It's not uncommon,
babies' eyes changing color.
We've got to get her
to the mainland.
There was something
in that water...
She's not the same!
- Calm yourself, Rose...
- Tell him, Porter, tell him!
Listen to doctor
Stone, Rose.
She'll be fine
soon enough.
All will be well.
But all was not well.
Little Silly
refused to sleep.
Night after night,
she tossed and cried out
for something her parents
could not possibly understand.
Give it to me!
The sea was a powerful
and mysterious mistress,
and no one dared
question her secrets.
No one but Rose,
that is.
A schoolteacher
from the mainland,
she wasn't afraid
to challenge the island ways.
She was determined
to find out
what happened to Silly
in the water that day.
Doctor?
Please.
I feel it,
I know something's wrong.
As the head
of the island's founding family,
he was sworn to silence.
Your imagination is
something to behold, Rose.
You should be putting her
to better use than this.
If you care anything for her,
and anything for me at all...
if you still care at all,
you must promise...
Look out for her.
Please, John.
You have my word.
Yeah, I know...
Silly, come here.
The years
of worry had taken their toll.
Rose grew ill from a fever
that had swept the island.
No matter...
what happens to Momma...
promise me...
you'll stay out
of the water.
Promise me, Silly.
I promise.
Silly filled her sleepless
nights wandering the island shore,
an outsider with
no one to understand her.
No one but the sea.
Day after day,
year after year,
Silly immersed herself
in the ways of her island.
Soon she had
all but forgotten
the mysterious image
she had seen so long ago.
Silly had a way with
the sea like none other.
She was strong and salty
and smarter than any of them,
and a welcome
addition on the wharf
on account of
her agreeable disposition.
Oh Peat...
Put your eyes back in
your goddamn fat chowder head.
Then one day,
something happened
that even Silly
could not explain.
The fish simply...
disappeared.
Are the tides taking
them out to sea?
I would take a thousand tides,
a thousand years to...
- clear out that bay.
It's happening again.
The curse.
Ba... What curse?
Oh...
It's just old
island lore, Silly.
Nothing for you
to worry about now.
Curse...
What kind of a ridiculous
story is this?
You expect people
to believe in curses?
You want me to stop?
Fine with me...
No.
The fish were gone,
and the villagers held
a secret meeting in the church.
Something had to be done.
It's the only way
to get the fish back, Stone.
You know that!
Three founding
families, Stone.
That's the way
it's has always been.
That's right!
If we don't do something soon,
they'll be gone forever!
There are other ways
for this island to survive.
You must leave Silly alone.
Jesus!
Till now, Silly had been
respectful of her mother's wish
to stay out of the water.
But now,
it was her 16th birthday,
she was old enough
to do what she wanted.
She had to find out
what was out there...
- Franny?
- Dr. Stone...
Silly stole your boat.
She's got her on the beach.
I saw her put it in the water.
She's over there!
Go on!
Come back here.
No! Leave me alone!
Leave me alone!
No!
Come on!
Let me go!
Silly!
Come on!
Come now, Silly.
The boat drifted out
into the bay, Porter.
Nothing but splinters
when it hits the rocks.
I'll be expecting her
to be making it up.
She'll do
what you say, Doc.
Nothing like this
will be happening again...
You have my word.
The clue...
was right under
Silly's nose all the time.
It was the tale performed in
a pageant by the children each year
about the first
European settlers.
- The French?
- No, before that.
A Viking ship was said
to have sailed the island's bay
hundreds of years ago,
looking for land...
and a safe place
to begin a new life.
They came upon
a beautiful bay,
its waters thick with
all the fish in the sea.
They felt
they entered Heaven itself.
But...
as the ship drew
close to the island,
a great storm came up.
And the rough
seas crashed it...
until finally it began
to sink into the freezing bay.
On board, there was a man
and his beloved new bride,
pregnant with
their first child.
They had fought
to get to this new land,
and not even the cruel, brutal
sea would keep them apart.
And as the ship went down,
they cried out to each other.
And for a brief moment,
all the powers of Nature,
the mighty seas themselves,
heard their plea and rose up
to grant the lovers a last wish.
The lovers wished
a curse on the island
that every 50 years,
the fish would dry up.
And all the settlers
in the future, would go hungry.
Payment for
the lives of the sailors
and the unborn child
lost that day.
If the fish disappeared
every 50 years,
then... there had to be
some way of getting them back.
Uh-hu.
That's exactly
what Silly said.
It's happening again.
I don't know.
A couple of weeks.
Well, I just couldn't
leave her in Berlin
staring at the ceiling,
could I?
No.
I don't know. I don't think
she can remember anything.
Well, she's your kid too,
right Max?
Hello?
Hello?
Shit!
I didn't
hear you come in.
Your father said
the school called.
They wanna know whether
to hold your room at the dorm.
I remember my first place
in the city, woo!
My God, we used
to get in trouble.
Excuse me
for chatting but...
Uncle Peat isn't exactly
the talkative type,
and I've had this wretched
song in my head all day.
A friggin' jig,
for Pete's sakes!
I know this is hard.
I've loved too, Claire.
I had noticed.
You can barely keep
their names straight.
One of us is going to have
to stop feeling sorry for herself.
Mind the steps, Silly.
Don't be missing spots.
Mmm-hmm...
"Don't be missing spots. "
Finally.
Silly!
Show my guest upstairs.
I hope that the room's
done up as I asked.
I hope it'll do.
After that boat, this is heaven.
I assure you.
Wait 'til you see
the crapper out back.
Top of the stairs,
Mrs. Griggs, is your room...
and the lavatory.
I trust
you'll be comfortable.
Thank you.
- I'll have your things brought up.
- Good, good.
James!
Insisting
on carrying his own.
Stubborn as
the Germans, that boy.
Ha, ha, ha.
Silly... go!
"After that boat,
this is heaven, I assure you. "
...plant's ripe
for being torn down
to make room
for docks, barracks.
With a view
of the sea, darling.
View of the sea?
- Yes.
Does it always
smell like this?
A storm brought in more
kelp than usual this year.
...How fascinating.
Not one nail.
I trust your base will leave
space for local boats, Father.
Let's move along, shall we?
Good Lord!
That child
has my emeralds!
Steven!
- Steven come here.
Silly!
Silly come here!
Silly!
She's got nerve.
- She's a criminal.
Silly!
Silly?
Silly.
I'm told you've been...
You've been bothering
the admiral and his family.
Filthy liars!
Stone is trying to make
something off this place.
It's a chance
for all of us.
Even you!
We won't be needing a base
when the fish come back!
Silly,
it's just a story.
You're 16 years old,
for God's sake.
A grown woman!
Haven't you caused yourself
enough heartache?
Haven't you?
Ever since
the plant shut down,
you sit in that chair all day
praying the dead will come back.
She's gone!
She's dead and gone.
And now
you can't even fish.
There ain't no one
on this island
who's gonna put up
with you anymore.
No one.
Ahem.
You've been spying on me?
I got better to do
than spy on anyone.
- Let alone you.
- Not what I heard.
And it's true what they say!
Every friggin' word...
Watch out,
I'll get you!
Doctor's house ain't
fine enough for you?
Biggest one
on the island.
The sound of the water
helps me sleep.
We...
A storm's coming up.
Your tent won't
last one blow.
I'll take my chances,
thanks.
Here!
One more!
Come on!
I feel like one
of Melville's heroes...
Ahab or Ishmael in the belly
of the whale and all that.
They're city friends
of yours?
No...
It's Moby Dick.
It's a story about
a great white whale,
and a man obsessed
with conquering it...
and the sea.
The most valiant
battle there is.
They win the battle,
your heroes?
Mm... yes.
In a sense, yes.
So...
How did you know
the storm was coming?
The way you know
about ideas and books.
I know about the sea.
Nlmmm.
Rhubarb wine?
Thank you.
You don't get boiled beef
and potatoes on the mainland?
Might be needing salt.
Thank you.
James!
You know
that's bad for you.
Silly, serve the food.
Well,
all goes as planed.
Construction can
begin right away.
I can't see how you'll be able
to build on that wharf.
I have it
on good authority
that the rocks go out
a hundred feet.
Landfill.
It'll give us an extra
quarter of a mile.
What about
the fishing boats?
Silly, you know as well as I do
that there are no fish here.
The water is barren.
It ain't barren...
it's cursed.
I'd heard about
these local stories.
How quaint.
What makes you so sure
they're just stories?
I think you're forgetting
we're guests here, James.
Invited to destroy
a way of life.
The base will bring jobs.
The base will bring
this rock out of the dark ages.
The base will save us.
Liar!
Silly,
that will be enough!
Where I come from,
you can't see
the ocean at all.
It's all
you see here.
Salt makes
everything hard.
Gets into your lungs...
and your head.
And here.
So...
What is it
about this place?
I mean, what are
they trying to hide?
There's something
in the bay.
I know it!
I've seen it.
It's true.
Most people are afraid
to know the truth.
About anything.
My mother wasn't afraid.
She knew.
Was she...
like you?
She...
sang me songs and...
she wore
a string of pearls,
even when she was down
scrubbing floors.
She was smart
about people, and
if she were here,
she'd give a piece of her mind
to that admiral and
his too-good-for-everybody wife
who wouldn't know a curse
if it bit her in the...
I mean your mother.
I think...
when people die...
they only die
on the outside.
The rest is...
here.
And here.
And here.
You're not like no one
I ever met before.
I think I can say
the same about you.
Do you believe me,
James?
Yes.
I believe you.
Come on!
Whoa-hoe'.!
Don't move.
She's coming.
Afraid of me
when she was a child.
I haven't lost my touch.
The island ain't big enough
for the both you, huh?
Mothers worry, Claire.
Makes them feel useful.
How would you know?
Making it up
as I go along.
She doesn't understand.
She has no idea.
Understanding and caring
are two different things.
Both are hard
to come by.
Haven't seen one
of these in awhile.
Little thing must have
outlasted a hundred storms.
Amazing what can
survive out here.
I trust you've come to your senses
and packed up that tent.
I've come for my books.
I know why
you're down there.
It's that girl.
Don't think I haven't heard.
Cavorting around
as if you were on holiday.
I am on holiday.
A simple island girl knows
a good thing when she sees it.
Fine family,
good looking boy...
there's a future there.
Because she's not like
the fools you invite over,
caring for nothing
but their latest dress,
and their father's money.
Silly's not like that.
You're wrong.
Oh, am I?
She's dangerous, James,
I'm warning you.
Stay away.
Rhubarb wine...
disgusting!
Stone's got barrels
of this stuff in the cellar.
Here.
Priest's got ears
like radars.
'Bout friggin' time.
Going home and frying up
kittens for supper, I'm sure.
- I'm going in.
- No!
- Look...
- Wait.
I never had no one to keep
look-out for me before.
Mmm-hmm...
And now that I do, I gotta
find out what they're hiding.
Throw me luck, James.
Throw me luck.
Damn!
We'll be at our own
place and out of that shack.
Family or no family.
Malcolm?
Malcolm,
are you listening?
What the Jesus
is she up to now?
Huh!
Searching for sea monsters
again, I'll bet.
Every 50 years.
Aaaahh!
Malcolm, run!
Silly!
Silly!
No!
Leave it,
it's not worth it!
Oh, it's okay.
It's okay.
Your pipe, Silly.
I didn't light no fire.
What kind
of a monster are you?
Don't you speak
to her that way.
And look at you,
you can barely stand!
It's because I'm drunk.
Only one child, a boy...
To make me proud...
To make something of himself.
To be something!
My son...
I'd sooner choke than
trade on your name.
Pack your things.
You're going back to the Academy!
You can't
tell me what to do.
I'm a man.
Is that
what she told you?
Get your things, now!
Dad, do something.
Do something!
Do something, please.
Mind the line
there, Peat.
And so the story goes...
As suddenly as James
had come to the island...
like that,
he was gone.
She felt she didn't want
to live anymore.
First her mother,
and now James.
She felt that
she herself was dying.
Stop!
I don't wanna hear anymore
of your stupid story.
Claire?
Is everything okay?
It's late.
I want you home.
Sleep tight, child.
Sleep tight.
Night, Celia.
Claire!
What were you two
doing up there,
all those hours?
Claire?
Answer me!
Talking.
You can talk to her
but you can't talk to me!?
Are you going
to analyze that too?
Have you called a shrink?
How much did he charge you
this time, Mom?
Why are you
so angry with me?
Can't you see
I'm trying to help you?
There is nothing
you can do to help me!
It's your life.
Do whatever
you want with it.
I want to know the ending.
You shouldn't be here.
Your mother asked me to stop.
I saw the church.
I saw those gravestones.
It's true.
The whole thing is true!
There's churches and graves all over
this part of the world, Claire.
Only outnumbered by crazy
old women and their stories.
I want to know!
Time to say goodbye
now, Claire.
Because finally, she had
found someone worthy
of finishing her tale.
Silly, I can't have you
sleeping out here forever.
I had hoped
you changed your mind.
You can't waste away up here
on account of that boy.
It ain't right.
It ain't right.
Mama wouldn't have gone.
Her pearls.
I gave them to her
the day we was wed.
One pearl for every day
it took to win her.
My hands were so raw from
polishing the damn things,
I wore gloves
every time she was near.
I'm sure she thought
I had hooks or something.
You know...
after the wedding, she said she didn't
marry me on account of the pearls.
She said...
she fell in love with me
'cause I was such a damn fool,
always with my head
in the clouds.
Not like the others,
she said.
Not like the others.
How you doing, Peat?
Allow me.
- To the base!
To the base!
Here, the base!
Hey,
where you've been?
Come on! What?
Oh my Jesus, Franny.
If I ain't seen her
with my own eyes...
Where's your fancy
boyfriend, Silly?
Gone back home now
that he's had his fun?
Wearing her mother's old dress.
Where's Silly going?
What's going on?
It's a new life,
for all of us.
We're ocean people.
We was meant to fish.
Your mother...
I loved her, you know.
She could have done a lot better
than marrying a fisherman.
I could have made her happy.
My father is a better man
than you 10 times over.
She would have never been
happy with the likes of you.
Out for yourself,
ruining the island!
You must understand.
It's what
she wanted, Silly.
I've been doing
all of this for her.
- For you!
- No, you're lying...
Silly!
There's something I need
to tell you, sir.
- Huh?
- It's about your son.
This better not
be another fairy tale.
What have you done
now, Peat?
What have you done
for that girl?
Well,
they can't be far!
Steven?
- We got to find them.
We got to find her
before it's too late!
It's time
to end this, Stone.
- It's us or her!
What's going on?
Find my son now!
Come on,
come on... move!
What is wrong
with you people?
You take the beach!
We'll check the wharf.
Oh!
I thought you was
gone for good.
I have a boat waiting
at the breakwater.
And I've food and fuel
enough for a week.
Soon we can be far away.
What's wrong?
- The water, I...
- Think of it.
Just you and me and...
you can forget this place,
my family, everyone.
We can be together.
Can't you see?
None of this
will matter anymore.
I can't do it without you.
I can't do it.
They're coming!
It's around the other side!
Come on!
They're not here!
- They'll catch up to us.
- No, they won't.
It's your starter, Admiral.
Someone's rigged her.
All the boats
are hauled up.
Peat's boat...
Peat's boat's missing.
There...
to there.
What do you think?
I- Immm...
I- Immm?
How about...
there?
I never knew
there were so many places.
Close your eyes.
Okay.
Now open.
I am the captain
of this ship, am I not?
One of them, anyways.
Such as joining dastardly
stowaways in wedlock.
Unless, of course,
you don't want to.
I do.
You do?
In that case,
I do too, then.
We'll need
a binding kiss, then.
Yes.
And as the boat
drifted out into the bay,
for the first time in as long
as she could remember,
Silly slept.
Good evening, Madam.
What are you up to?
I'm partaking
in a ceremonial dunking.
For tonight...
I am a man.
You'll be blue as frozen
fish guts in 10 minutes flat.
That means I have
nine minutes left.
I'd rather
spend them with you.
No, my pearls!
I've got them!
Grab on to my hand!
James!
James, come back!
James!
James!
James!
- I can't...
- James!
Come back to the boat!
James!
Get back to the boat!
James...
"W!
But why take the chosen,
when true to Viking lore,
the greater suffering is
in taking the choserfs love?